MOBILE, Alabama -- For the past seven years, Austal USA has grown up on the banks of the Mobile River, hiring more and more employees to help construct ships for the Navy. That number will soon crest just over 4,000 workers, as the shipyard approaches full rate production.

As a company that until recently held little cache among defense contractors, Austal has already achieved plenty. But life-threatening cuts to the littoral combat ship program pose a threat to the its long term gains. A cash-strapped Pentagon that’s faced with hard decisions about future military threats and finances wants an inexpensive, but well-manned vessel. Both of which have been challenges for the program.

As expected, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel proposed a budget this week that would limit the order to 32 ships. The decision, albeit tentative, is a sign that the company should also be looking at what they will do next.

Some low-lying fruit would be to provide technical support for each of the joint high speed vessels and littoral combat ships they are under contract to build, a venture Austal USA President Craig Perciavalle says they are actively pursuing.

“There’s a lot of service and support work now that we’re focusing on as business opportunities for us,” Perciavalle said. “That’s the next big business sector that we are just starting to focus on now that our ships are getting out there.”

Austal and Lockheed Martin were both chosen to be the prime contractors for the dual shipbuilding program. Austal, which also has a $1.6 billion contract to build 10 joint high speed vessels, constructs the Independence-variant, an aluminum trimaran. Lockheed Martin builds the Freedom-variant, a steel monohull in Marinette, Wis.

Perciavalle is cautious not to speculate too much on the Navy’s future acquisition of the LCS. And with good reason. The politics that surround the federal budget takes many turns before the final product is final. Alabama’s entire delegation has already stepped up to defend any plans to bring the program down to size.

Congressman Bradley Byrne, R-Fairhope, said in a prepared statement Tuesday that the ships were “a critical component of our future fighting force as we continue adapting to changing combat necessities.”

However, a memo obtained by Bloomberg News, which Hagel sent to Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, another supporter of the LCS, suggested the controversial vessel needs should be modified to be “generally consistent with the capabilities of a frigate.” Critics have often latched on the ship’s questionable firepower capabilities in the face of a threat from a more capable military.

J. Michael Gilmore, the defense department’s director of operational tests and evaluations said most of the testing for the Austal-built sea frame focused on the performance of the mine countermeasures mission module. Gilmore added “the core combat capabilities of the Independence-variant sea frame remain largely untested.”

Envisioned as a low-cost option so the military can be in more places around the word to thwart minor threats, Hagel’s memo recommended the ships also be prepared to handle more capable militaries in Southeast Asia.

Defense industry experts agree that if the LCS is to comprise of a significant portion of the Navy’s fleet, it would need more resilient defense capabilities. If not, then the Navy doesn’t need 52 of them.

Jim Hasik, senior fellow at the Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security in Washington, D.C., said among the cost-cutting there may be a place for an up and coming shipyard like Austal.

The Navy, Hasik said, has come around to the idea that they need a “high-low mix” for its future fleet. Ships of varied capabilities and of varied costs are needed to fit the current fiscal environment.

“They’ve built some great ships for the Navy that were not very expensive,” Hasik said. “I think that the tighter money gets, it’s probably the better chance Austal has.”

The fiscal belt-tightening has expressed in numerous reports from the federal government. In October 2013, the Congressional Budget Office released a report analyzing the Navy’s shipbuilding plans future shipbuilding plan.

“The Navy plans to see how well the existing shipyards perform in executing their contracts before it decides whether or how to acquire the rest of the ships,” the report read.

Noting the cost overruns for the first four ships built, the report asserted that “the key to the future cost of the littoral combat ships will be how well each shipbuilder can execute its current 10-ship contract.”

This has put a laser focus on meeting production demands at Austal, which delivered three ships last year.

The shipbuilders are currently piecing together 9 vessels -- 5 littoral combat ships and 4 joint high speed vessels -- all at various stages of construction, Perciavalle said. They are projected to deliver another three ships this year. When the LCS hits full rate production, Perciavalle said they will be delivering a consistent four ships every year.

There will be a few final additions before its growth spurt ends. They’re looking to hire as many as 200 more people in the next six months, and construct a much-needed vessel completion yard on the southern end of the campus.

“We build very capable platforms that are very affordable, and we are optimistic of the competitive advantage that puts us in,” Perciavalle said. “It’s one thing to be building something that your customer doesn’t really want. I’m pleased that our customer loves the LCS program; they’re committed to the LCS program.”